


The Fire King

by merlypops



Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: Aftermath, Anger, Angst, Character Study, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Loss, Memories, My First Work in This Fandom, Norta, Post-King's Cage, Sad Ending, Scarlet Guard - Freeform, Spoilers for King's Cage, lots of other characters are mentioned too, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 15:53:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11763255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlypops/pseuds/merlypops
Summary: ‘Cal looked colder than Maveneverhad.Mare wondered how her fire Prince could have fallen so far without her noticing.’Spoilers for King's Cage.





	The Fire King

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my friend Becca who showed me the books (and who still needs to read the last one, damnit! I need someone to cry with!)
> 
> I wrote this the day I finished reading King's Cage so, naturally, I am a bitter wreck in complete pieces. I've never written for this universe before so please be gentle with me - I did my best!
> 
> Basically, this is exactly what I'm afraid of happening.

Mare couldn't stand to watch the broadcasts anymore.

No matter the countless promises he had made her, Cal grew more like Maven with every passing day. Mare could see it in his face; in his pale stubborn jaw and unruly black curls beneath the twisted iron flames of the crown.

The hollow dread in the faded beauty of Tiberias Calore's eyes had gone now. It had been replaced with a sick sort of purpose instead; a quiet power leeching its way through the King of Norta’s veins and burning away all of the boy Mare had fallen in love with… the boy who had simultaneously saved and destroyed her life on a starlit night a million years ago.

Bronze eyes should never have been able to look so icy but Cal managed it, appearing as though all of the love that had once smouldered inside him had been washed away. The Prince that Mare had fallen for was long gone now and a lump thickened in her throat whenever she mistakenly stumbled across a picture of him. Looking at him was agony; worse than the brand Maven had stamped into her chest… worse than months of Silent Stone or that nightmarish battle defending Corvium against Maven’s army; worse even than Samson Merandus clawing his way into her head and ripping something inside of her that would never, _ever_ mend.

Maybe it was even worse than losing Shade.

At least her brother was still whole in her memory. At least he had died blazing with love and kindness and strength. At least Mare was still so proud of him that it sometimes choked her.

She was _ashamed_ of Cal and that was the worst thing of all. Looking at him made her want to destroy something... anything to lessen the pain rippling through her like fire. She thought the tear in her heart was never going to heal because Cal looked colder than Maven _ever_ had.

Mare wondered how her fire Prince could have fallen so far without her noticing.

Then again, maybe even _that_ made sense too.

Anabel Lerolan had influenced her grandson just as effectively as Elara had manipulated Maven. Cal still danced at the end of Anabel’s strings like the puppet he was born to be.

It made Mare sick because, despite everything – _everything_ – in her screaming that Cal was no better than everyone else she’d ever met, a part of her so badly wanted it to be true. How could he not see he was being used? How could he not see that his presence on the broadcasts was causing so much harm to a cause he’d always sworn to protect, if only because he had no other choice?

Maybe that was the problem.

Maybe he _did_ see what Anabel was doing to him.

Maybe he just didn’t care anymore.

Cal had never been one for making choices after all; this was probably all he’d ever dreamt of. He had power, glory, pride, his monstrous brother locked safely away somewhere in Whitefire, Evangeline as the wife he had always been promised, and his grandmother to make all of his decisions for him.

This was just the last nail in the coffin.

That metaphor shouldn't have felt so accurate either but, as the days passed, it become more and more true. Cal had hidden himself away in Whitefire too, trapped behind the shining walls and diamondglass… in one of the last places that was truly safe for him from the Scarlet Guard.

In a relatively short time, Cal had iced over – became cold and lethal – and the sting of betrayal it caused stole the breath from Mare's lungs. How quickly Cal had turned on them when it suited Anabel's needs. How easily she had been betrayed.

It hurt even worse than Maven because Cal's mind hadn't been broken like his brother's. Cal had no excuse but weakness.

None of it changed anything though. Mare still loved him so much her heart felt like it was going to burst. She still cried herself to sleep on those nights when she felt numb enough to risk dreaming.

Tiberias Calore was a huge threat to the Scarlet Guard now, knowing their typical manoeuvres and the identities of quite a few surviving commanding officers, not to mention their abilities. No matter how careful the Guard had been, they hadn't been able to prevent that. Tiberias Calore was a menace that must be neutralised, just like Maven was, locked away in whatever padded fire-proof cell Cal had found for him while he tried to find a way to fix something that had already been broken beyond repair.

Mare thought she knew how Maven felt now and that sickened her more than anything; made her brand _burn_.

Dimly, Mare wondered if Evangeline felt the same betrayal and loss that she did... if Evangeline woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in cold sweat and _shaking_ because this was never the life she’d imagined becoming trapped in.

If it wasn't for her family – for her parents and brothers; for Gisa and Kilorn; for Farley and Clara – Mare thought she might have given up already.

Every breath hurt now. Every step ached.

Even summoning her lightning was a pain she couldn't bear because all of it – _all of it_ – reminded her of Cal.

Mare had nightmares about the Guard catching up with Cal sometimes; about the absolute destruction the Newbloods could wreak if they were commanded to attack him. There was something bitterly ironic about that… students turning on their mentor. Mare knew she couldn’t ask that of them but it didn’t change the fact that _someone_ would have to do this…

She supposed it was only right that it had to be her.

The Lightning Girl against the Flame of Norta… the Fire King, straight out of her own twisted version of hell.

Mare knew him better than anyone… knew his ability and his battle techniques… his heart.

All she could do was pray that there was still love left inside him and wield it like a blade, twisting it deep into his chest as she prayed that it was enough. Cal’s emotions had always been explosive, emanating from him in waves, right up until the moment he smothered them beneath armour and went in for the kill.

Mare’s vision flickered as she pictured his body rigid with her lightning, his skeleton flashing before her eyes in a gruesome flare of unforgettable, unforgiveable power…

She remembered the rainstorm for a moment; the warmth and love blooming on her skin as she kept Cal safe from the lightning, cradled against her chest where he could never, _ever_ leave –

But Cal _had_ left her and Mare had no heart left to break, and she’d already plummeted far enough that there was not a single part of her left unscathed.

Maybe it was better that way though.

Mare had already hit rock bottom.

There was nowhere left to fall.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Please let me know what you thought by leaving comments/kudos!


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